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Zero Waste Scotland comments on UK Plastics Pact

12 Oct 2018

Zero Waste Scotland has today commented on the inaugural meeting of the UK Plastics Pact, which launched a £1.4 million competition to support creative business ideas to stop plastic being thrown away. The competition is managed by WRAP working in partnership with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The 2018 UK Plastics Pact Summit was the first meeting of Pact members since the programme launched in April 2018, with more than 150 delegates from across the supply chain attending. New WRAP research and guidance was introduced which addresses key issues around plastic packaging, including how to make it more recyclable. It also laid out the draft actions for the UK Plastics Pact Roadshow which will help achieve the ambitious 2025 Pact targets, around recyclability and elimination of unnecessary packaging.

“Yesterday, the first UK Plastics Pact summit, which is the most important development to date in addressing packaging design, showed that people power is transforming how industry uses plastics in the UK.

“Consumer calls for action are behind retailers,’ brands’ and manufacturers commendable efforts, which I heard about yesterday, to tackle the overuse of packaging and single-use plastics in our stores, with growing evidence that shoppers are firmly turning away from products that they perceive as having unnecessary packaging.

“Zero Waste Scotland wants to see excess packaging minimised wherever possible, and that, with regard to plastics, it’s made from recycled material and is fully recyclable for people when they get it home.

“In Scotland, work to create more consistent household recycling collections through the Household Recycling Charter, increase the capacity to reprocess plastic, and to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers, are significant progress in helping us deal with plastic waste.”

Iain Gulland concluded, “By working together, through initiatives like the Plastics Pact, we can get our use of plastics, and all forms of packaging, back under control.”